Tomorrow marks the start of one of, if not the most prestigious events on the Horse Racing calendar. The four-day Cheltenham festival is always a popular feature on the sporting calendar, means the bookmakers will be flat-out over the next week, and will bound to cause some unlikely winners and historic stories.
All attention will focus on the battle for supremacy in the main event on Friday afternoon, as stablemates Kauto Star and Denman will do battle for the honours in the ToteSport Cheltenham Gold Cup. For trainer Paul Nicholls, he can’t lose, but who will come out on top this year. Kauto Star is probably one of the best jump horses of all time, up there with the likes of Desert Orchid and Red Rum. He has won four King George VI consecutively and has won the Gold Cup twice, dismantling the competition in 2007 and 2009. In-between, Denman, ridden by Sam Thomas (who won’t be competing this year, due to a cracked vertebra) stormed to victory in 2008, at his first attempt. So its seconds out, round three.
What would be nice to see will be a closely-fought battle for honours in Friday’s big race. On the two occasions they’ve met at Cheltenham, the victory margin has been a convincing one, which has disappointing many racing experts, after all the intense build-up. Kauto Star comes into the spectacular event as the overwhelming favourite. He hasn’t been beaten for nearly two years, whilst Denman unseated his jockey on his last outing, and has been plagued by injury since his 2008 success. Make sure to watch, this should be a classic battle, quite possibly the last match-up between these two stunning horses.
Friday’s showdown will also pit the two best jump jockeys of all time against one another. Friends they may be, but the competitive instinct is there as it is between Federer and Nadal, Button and Hamilton, Manchester United and Arsenal. Ruby Walsh comes face-to-face with Tony McCoy on more than one occasion this week, but on Friday, they will be on the two favourites. For Nicholls to snap up McCoy on Denman is a real coup. AP has been a frustrated figure at the Festival in the last couple of years, rarely featuring. However, they say form is temporary, class is permanent and having never won the Grand National, he is determined to come good in the other big jump meeting of the season. By galvanising Qaspal to victory in the Imperial Cup on Saturday at Sandown, suggests he is in great nick.
On the other hand, Walsh had an unforgettable Cheltenham in 2009. Not only was on Kauto Star in 2009, he won seven other races, that included the Queen Mother Champion Chase on another outstanding chaser, MasterMinded. Like Kauto Star, MasterMinded has great success at Cheltenham, having won the Champion Chase for the past two years. The combination of him and Ruby will be hard to beat again in 2010. With other strong rides in the Champion Hurdle and the Ladbrokes World Hurdle, Ruby Walsh could be set to add to his impressive Cheltenham record. Currently, he has 24 wins at the Festival and with two more success in the next four days, will surpass Pat Taafe’s record to become the most successful jockey ever at the Festival. Expect that record to be in his hands by the end of the week. Follow all of this week's key races on Channel 4 from tomorrow.
Cheltenham has always been a winner on the Horse Racing calendar and will pit one of the most eagerly-awaited match-ups of the sporting year together. So, get ready Kauto Star and Denman, it’s time for seconds out, round three. And if I was a betting man, I would put my money on Kauto retaining his cup.
No comments:
Post a Comment